There are days where I wonder around with my camera, taking photos on the streets, feeling that…I’ve not really got much. Just some bog standard shots of people walking past a fairly interesting building, or just standing on a street corner. Ok shots, but nothing that makes me feel “wow, that’s a portfolio” image (some might say even the ones I consider portfolio images…really aren’t). I come home, load the SD card into my iPad, and expect to be just flicking through a series of fairly standard images, 99% of which will end up deleted.
Every now and then, however, I get home and realise…maybe I had something after all without realising it. Sometimes I capture an image and think “well, I could pass this off as intended, but the reality is that it was just chance”. Last week I had one of those moments. An image I was pleased to capture, but had no idea I’d caught something I’d consider for my portfolio until I got home…
Now, when composing this image, I genuinely did not spot the poster in the optician window with a model looking out towards the couple embracing. Genuinely. So I have a mixture of feelings when I look at this image now. Pleased I caught it, but also weirdly annoyed I didn’t really check the full frame before I took the shot. But does that really matter? It’s not as if I could have captured it any better, is it? Is it just a case of a bit of imposter syndrome trying to undermine me?
Ultimately, the main thing is getting the shot. And besides, it would look more than a little wrong to stand across the street and analyse the scene while two people were embracing. It could look…well…a bit intrusive shall we say. And, in all honesty, even taking this shot made me feel a bit uncomfortable, as though I was intruding on their intimacy (but equally I have serious problems with public affection…it’s not really my thing). Maybe I could have improved the composition, but equally I could have ended up dealing with a very awkward situation, accused of all sorts. As it is, it’s in focus and, after cropping it (the original shot was vertical), it works. And, in the end, that’s all that matters.
I always try to remind myself that perfection is the enemy of good. Whether that be a photo that is slightly off focus or not fully exploring the scene before taking the photo. Sometimes it just has to be about getting the shot and that decisive moment. You may not get technically perfect images every time, but you capture a moment and sometimes, not always, that is enough. In this case, the decisive moment was a lucky one.